Category Archives: Civics

Weeks of tense negotiations, heated yelling sessions, and a high-stakes game of chicken between Seattle’s biggest employer and the city council culminated on Monday afternoon in a unanimous council vote to approve a $275-per-employee “head tax.” But what does the vote mean? Is Amazon’s threat to abandon the city off the table? And where does Seattle go from here? Continue reading Six Things to Consider About the Head Tax→

One way to judge a society is to look at how it provides for its poorest people. Seattle is debating the scale of the hospitality it will provide in the form of controversy over the Employee Head Tax proposed by members of the city council. The Finance and Neighborhoods Committee is set to vote on the new tax tomorrow in a session starting at 9:30am.Continue reading City Council Committee Readies for Imminent Vote on Head Tax→

Earlier this month—after multipleinvestigations, a vote of no confidence, and a lengthy internal trial that found him guilty on five counts of workplace misconduct, financial malfeasance, and “conduct unbecoming an officer,” King County Democratic Party chairman Bailey Stober resigned from both his position as chair of the county party and his $98,000-a-year job as communications director for King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson. The announcements capped a months-long process that turned into a referendum on not just Stober but the culture and future of the local Democratic Party.Continue reading A Crisis of Confidence among King County Democrats→

After a nearly yearlong search process, hundreds of applicants, and countless hours of deliberation the Seattle City Council is finally posed to appoint Lisa Judge as Seattle’s first ever Inspector General for Public Safety.